Mei Gongqing

Propping himself with the other hand, he looked up at her and hoarsely called, “Ah Rong.”

Chen Rong vaguely answered him with tears in her clouded eyes.

Wang Hong’s breathing quickened. He bowed his head to place a kiss on her lips and whispered, “Ah Rong.” He had swallowed back the words he wanted to say and only uttered her name.

His hand once again started to move.

Chen Rong whimpered to his movement, her long lashes fluttering amidst beads of tears. “We can’t, Qilang, we can’t...” They were words of refusal, but they sounded like amorous whisperings.

The color on his face deepened at the sight of her. He lowered his head to capture her lips, his tongue lightly tracing them and chasing her own. “I don’t want to let go...” he murmured.

He next moved down and sucked on her left nipple.

As his tongue was stroking it, Chen Rong’s moan was growing more audible.

At this time, footsteps could be heard outside.

Soon, a maid stammered to him: “My lord, the Prince of Nan’yang has sent a messenger to relay that he has urgent business to discuss.”

Wang Hong did not lift his head. Still suckling at her nipple and fingers lightly tugging at her quivering sex, he vaguely replied, “I shan’t see anyone.”

“Aye.”

When Ah Zhi saw the girl come back down, she promptly went to her and asked, “What did his lordship say?”

“He said he won’t see anyone,” the girl whispered.

Their expression both slightly altered. After a while, the other said at a loss, “From a young age, he has always had extraordinary will power, and has never cared for sexual temptation. But now... Ah Zhi, I’m a little afraid.”

Ah Zhi’s face was as blanched as hers. She looked up at the bamboo loft in the swaying candlelight and, after a long time, smiled as her voice turned brisk: “What is there to fear? That girl will only be glad to have spent the night with our master. And if she’s happy about it, then our master will be, too.”

The other maid snickered and eagerly nodded her head.

The gasps of pleasure continued in the bamboo loft.

Chen Rong raised her head, her lips nibbling Wang Hong. She moaned again and again: “Qilang, Qilang, Qilang...”

At this time, his hand left her mound to part her thighs.

Then, a fiery object was felt at her entrance.

Almost suddenly, Chen Rong broke into tears. They spilled from her eyes to her cheeks, soaking the pillow behind her.

She wrapped her legs on his waist and murmured the same thing over and over: “Qilang, Qilang, Qilang...” Even in her stupor, her voice was choking with sadness.

Her choked voice and tears made Wang Hong stiffen.

He raised his head.

His flawless face was faintly flushed, his eyes no longer translucent. His pupils were clouded and even his lips were swollen red.

He fixedly looked at Chen Rong.

She quietly looked back at him through her tears and reached around his neck to press her face against his lips as she cried. “Qilang, I’m so happy.”

Tears were falling even though she claimed to be happy.

Wang Hong paused.

Slowly, he bowed his head, kissed her eyes and licked away her tears. Long strands of hair plastered onto his body... his weaving with hers – one strand, then another.

And then he left her.

Chen Rong widened her glazed eyes looking to him when coldness suddenly surrounded her.

In the candlelight, she rubbed her left breast, gasping and looking at him with burning eyes. “Qilang,” she called him, squirming as she begged, “Don’t leave me.”

Standing naked by the bed, Wang Hong watched Chen Rong as he took out a piece of white satin.

He slightly leaned down, causing his inky silk to drape over her. He smiled to see that she was watching him with longing. “Good girl, lift up a bit,” he softly rasped.

Chen Rong did as told.

He placed the white satin beneath her, smiled up at her, and then climbed over her again.

Chen Rong let out a satisfied mewl to have his warmth return.

He was now completely on top of her.

He again opened her legs, nudging his hard fiery tip at her opening.

He raised his head.

Solemnly looking into her eyes, he tenderly said, “Ah Rong, you mustn’t regret this...”

Chen Rong blinked and remained looking at him in a daze.

But for some reason, those bright eyes full of rapture and carnal desire began to brim with tears again.

Wang Hong kissed her eyes and softly said, “Good girl, don’t cry... don’t melt my heart.”

His body suddenly sank down.

Instantaneously, a hard and hot object plunged into her.

She gave a cry and questioned him with her tears. Whatever that stopped inside her began to move again.

Pain tore through her.

“It hurts!”

She clutched his shoulders, pushing him away and crying: “It hurts. Qilang, something is pricking me, help me take it out.”

She pushed him and called his name. In her teary eyes were trust, pleading, and vague sadness and fear.

Wang Hong looked at her once before decisively moving his eyes away.

He placed his hand where they met and softly stroked.

Chen Rong slowly let out a light moan.

He suddenly moved. He took one of her breasts in his mouth while his hand attended to the other. His right hand held her hip as he moved in and out.

Due to the pain and the strange fullness, Chen Rong shook her head, spilling her silky hair around them. Both pain and pleasure washed over her face.

Her moans grew.

This happiness felt as if it would never end but also as if it was for but a moment.

However long had passed, the bamboo loft quieted down.

Ah Zhi, who had been listening in, quietly stepped forward and called, “My lord?”

As she was pondering the silence inside, Wang Hong tiredly ordered: “Bring me some warm water.”

“Aye.”

Ah Zhi soon opened the door to bring the water in.

“Leave it, don’t come in.”

Ah Zhi paused. After some time, she softly said, “But...”

“Go out.”

“Aye.”

Ah Zhi placed the basin down, left the towels and clean clothes, then slowly retreated.

She heard someone come down from bed before she saw an arm reaching out to take those things inside.

Her brow knitted together as she listened to the sound of water, the women’s sweet murmuring, and the man’s gentle appeasing voice.

The younger maid went to her, looked at the loft, and whispered, “Ah Zhi, what is it?”

“He is cleansing her himself,” Ah Zhi replied, staring at the loft.

This fact kept both of them silent.

Some time later, the younger girl shakingly asked, “Ah Zhi, have we made a mistake?”

Ah Zhi didn’t have an answer. In the candlelight, her pretty face was as white as a sheet of paper. They both knew their master was as noble as the king himself. Once he slept with a woman, according to convention, they would go in to help him bathe and dress, then change the sheets and light the incense to rid of the foul odor to help him sleep. The woman would be carried outside. Once she woke up, she would be given a bowl of abortion drink.

But what happened inside had gone beyond everything they knew.

At length, Ah Zhi murmured, “The pain of not attaining what we want... Shouldn’t he spurn such a lowly and tawdry girl after he got her?”

Chen Rong had an unrestful night.

She kept tossing and turning. From time to time, a tear shed from her closed eyes.

Tears that were iridescent in the candlelight.

Dawn arrived at last.

Chen Rong slowly opened her eyes.

She foggily looked beyond the window shades.

Gradually, her eyes gained some sobriety.

Her eyes were struggling to move but they soon stopped. A white figure was writing away in front of her bed. In the sunlight, his tall and handsome sight blinded her. He was clearly sitting there, but it seemed as if he was surrounded by the clouds.

The man looked up and smiled at her when he heard rustling sounds.

Instinctively, she smiled back at him.

She blinked and blinked yet he did not disappeared. She quizzically ventured, “You.”

“What is it?” He looked at her with a smile, his voice was as gentle as water.

Chen Rong blinked rapidly and was shocked to find that he was still there. “Qilang, how can you be here?”

She suddenly sensed that something wasn’t right.

She gazed down.

The quilt slipped to reveal the bruises on her jadeite body... she wasn’t wearing any clothes!

Chen Rong hurriedly reached out to pull the quilt over herself and then looked towards Wang Hong.

Her face grew paler and paler.

She again lowered her head and quietly lifted the quilt to take another look.

She was thoroughly stunned by what she saw.

A long time later, she abstrusely asked, “Last night wasn’t a dream?”

Wang Hong had put down his brush at this point. He glanced over to face her, a playful lock of hair blocking his eyes.

“Aye, last night wasn’t a dream.” His voice was gentle as always.

Chen Rong slowly looked up. She blankly stared at him and asked yet again, “We... slept together?”

Wang Hong’s voice remained smooth and gentle. He looked at her with a smile. “Aye.”

Chen Rong shut her eyes.

Tightly.

A while later, she hoarsely asked, “We, unbetrothed and out of wedlock... had slept together?”

Wang Hong was still looking sideways, a stray hair dangling in front of his eyes. “Aye.”

She slowly sat up.

The quilt slid down to present her perfectly beautiful body before his eyes.

Chen Rong did not feel anything was wrong with her sudden nudity. She sat up and let her uncombed hair hide her lowered face.

“Are you going to marry me?” she quietly asked.

...

A long silence passed.

Chen Rong chuckled. “Right,” she rasped, “how can you possibly marry me? But I still have to ask, don’t you think?”

The room was very quiet; not the slightest sound was made.

“Qilang, what will you do about me now?”

A long time later, Wang Hong softly said, “I’ve kept proof that you lost your virginity to me. Ah Rong, you can still be my honored concubine.”

“Honored concubine?”

“Aye.”

Chen Rong chuckled.

She slowly looked up.

Combing her fingers through her hair, she tilted her head looking at Wang Hong with her mouth upturned into a smile. “Can I still be your honored concubine without a prior betrothal?”

She sounded a little strange. Wang Hong only looked at her fixedly without an answer.

She smiled again. She looked at him and quietly called, “Qilang.”

“Mmm.”

“Even if I enter the Wang House in Lang’ya as an honored concubine, I would never live with dignity there, am I right?” She had previously refused Wang Yi’s proposition. Yet she was now sleeping with Wang Hong out of wedlock... what a contemptible girl she was. An honored concubine like her was worse than a regular concubine.

“Don’t be afraid,” Wang Hong softly told her.

“No?” Chen Rong laughed with eyes that sparkled. When she leaned forward, her porcelain breasts gleamed in the sun with her movements.

She looked at him with an unsmiling smile and lightly said, “Qilang, would you believe that I’ve murdered before?”

Her words surprised Wang Hong. He did not understand why she said what she said.

Chen Rong slightly smirked. Her perfect body and beautiful face were luminous in the morning sun. She laughed. “I’ve killed seven people... all of them were women.”

Wang Hong furrowed his brow. His eyes left her exquisite body. Looking into her eyes, he softly said, “Ah Rong, you’re tired.” He knew her history so well that he thought her words must be delirious.

However, not only was Chen Rong’s gaze enchanting, it was also completely sober, and she didn’t look at all delirious. She tilted her head, her eyes sparkling, as she faintly smiled. “Even that cousin of mine – if she wasn’t elsewhere right now, she would’ve been killed by me...“

As she spoke, Chen Rong lifted the quilt and walked down from bed. She had just lost her maidenhood, but she was not embarrassed at showing her naked body to a man, and was openly stepping down from bed in front of him. Wang Hong was made to feel that her body was Heaven’s best creation, for it was devastatingly beautiful. Not only her body, but even her youthful face no longer carried the timidity, vigilance, and fear of the past. Her smile was now bewitchingly cold.

Chen Rong walked barefoot and called, “Is someone out there?”

“Aye,” Ah Zhi replied. The bamboo door opened to admit her and another maidservant in, carrying a basin and some clothes.

Upon their entrance, they were startled to see a naked Chen Rong quietly smiling in the sunlight.

They quickly diverted their gazes and approached her.

Chen Rong eyed the clothes on the tray and then sweetly smiled. “Why is it a yellow dress? Go, fetch the white outfit here.”

She confused them. If they remembered correctly, not long ago the young lady had said she did not wear white.

She stayed still for a moment before Ah Zhi went away.

Before long, she had brought the white dress back with her. It was taken from Chen Rong’s luggage.

Ah Zhi put the clothes in front of Chen Rong and couldn’t help herself from asking: “I thought you didn’t like white clothes, miss?” She must want to please my master. At this thought, Ah Zhi cast a scornful glance at Chen Rong.

Chen Rong simply smiled. She picked up the outfit to admire it. “I don’t... How can a vulgar, ruthless, and ridiculous woman like me be worthy of this pure, white dress?”

Upon her words, the three people in the room stilled.

Wang Hong who had been tilting his head to look at Chen Rong slowly stopped smiling.

Chen Rong dropped her gaze with a smile and slowly put on the white dress. “But I can wear it now... If I can be reborn, then of course I’m worthy of it.”

The last sentence was a bit vague, and only the maids faintly heard it.

They began to comb her hair after she finished dressing.

“Undo it,” she soon ordered them.

The maids paused.

Ah Zhi frowned, gently explaining: “Miss, you’re a married woman now...” She hadn’t finish by the time Chen Rong coldly said, “I want my hair to be styled like a maiden!”

They paused. After looking at each other, they turned to look at Wang Hong.

Wang Hong was still looking at Chen Rong, all this time he has been quietly watching her.

Not hearing him speak, the two maids had to do what Chen Rong wanted and combed her hair like a maiden.

It took little effort before Chen Rong’s hair was finished. It is uncertain whether it was due to her new womanhood, but her beauty was now rather cold. This coldness made her radiant and somewhat terrifying.

Chen Rong turned from the bronze mirror and rose. Turning around, she smiled and asked, “Whose idea was the Heaven’s Brew last night?”

The maids froze.

They turned to look at Wang Hong despite themselves.

Yet again, they saw their master quietly looking at Chen Rong.

After trading glances, the younger one finally said, “It was me.” Ah Zhi intervened with a smile: “Are you upset, miss? If not for that drink, you wouldn’t have gotten what you wanted.” She laughed and added, “We know you’re a gentry woman, so even if you loved our master, you would not dare to say it. We only wanted to help.” She bowed deeply to Chen Rong, pleading: “Do forgive us, miss.”

Chen Rong didn’t turn around. She went to the window where her porcelain hand gently stroked the windowsill before reaching for the sword beside it. “Then you are saying that it was your two’s idea to serve me the Heaven’s Brew?” A hint of a smile was heard in her voice.

Seeing that she didn’t sound to be angered, Ah Zhi also lightly laughed. “Aye... won’t you forgive us, miss?” She and the young maidservant once again bowed deeply to her.

They acted like the scholars and bowed to Chen Rong, their mouths uttering apologies but their gestures and rhetoric were frivolous, with a trace of contempt from deep down inside.

“Forgive you?” Chen Rong chaffed. “Then who will forgive me?” she whispered as she grabbed onto the sword hilt.

“Fwoosh” the sword left its scabbard, sunlight reflecting off of its cold iron. When they saw her suddenly pick up the sword, they simultaneously cried, “Miss, this isn’t something you can touch!” Their voices were full of habitual haughtiness.

It was as if Chen Rong had not heard their accusations. She raised the sword, her fingers lightly tapping on its surface. She smiled at the sharp clangs. “The Wang House of Lang’ya indeed produces a fine sword!”

Like lightning, she stabbed backwards.

“Fwoosh –” it was the sound of pierced flesh.

The two servant girls simultaneously screamed. Wang Hong who had been looking on with his elegant smile had also shot to his feet, watching Chen Rong in dismay.

Chen Rong turned around.

The sword in her hand had drilled straight into Ah Zhi’s chest. While the girl’s blood flowed out, the smile on Chen Rong’s face grew breathtakingly brilliant.

She withdrew the sword and then raised her hand to point the dripping blade at the younger hysterical maid.

Blood scattered. A few drops splashed onto her luminous face, painting her sweet smile a palpitating gorgeousness.

Only until the sword had completely drilled into its target did they hear a heavy crash from the side. It was Ah Zhi’s body slumping to the floor.

Chen Rong withdrew the bloody sword once more. She looked up at Wang Hong.

Just like that, she carried the bloody sword towards him.

Wang Hong stared at her.

Under his gaze, Chen Rong passed him and slowly headed for the door.

He turned to stare after her straight figure, lonely and hopeless in the sunlight. “Ah Rong,” he heard himself calling.

The airiness and elegance were gone from his wavering voice. He sounded bleak, with an inner predicament even he was not aware of: “Are you this scornful of being my honored concubine?”